


Garden Party

by spicycronch



Category: The Property of Hate
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Entertainment, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 02:43:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14844099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spicycronch/pseuds/spicycronch
Summary: Magnus owned a little flower shop in town. It wasn't just a flower shop, of course, but you couldn't go around telling people those things.AU that no one asked for, but is here anyway.





	Garden Party

**Author's Note:**

> A lesson in why writing exclusively from 12-3 AM is a terrible idea.

     Magnus owned a little flower shop in town. It wasn't just a flower shop, of course, but you couldn't go around telling people those things. Polite company called him a gardener and magician while the less kind called him a witch. Rude, accurate, but a little strange to the uninitiated. No, Magnus’ flower shop was frequented by all sorts of folk. Whether you were looking for flowers of love, flowers for funerals, flowers for weddings: Magnus assuredly had something. His shop was far from the hubbub of cities and urban life, but that distance let him work his magic without interruption. The haze of cities would damage the most delicate of work and make his alchemy much more difficult to refine.

     The only way to get to his flower shop was through the tunnel. Magnus liked the town he lived in. It was filled with the easy sort of slowness that made everyone family. With that kind of atmosphere, Magnus’ oddities could be written off. Anyone in that sort of town would be isolated- which could give them strange airs and eccentric personalities. Magnus didn't think he quite fit into either category, but what could you do? It was easier to let strangers believe what they wanted. But through the tunnel was the city. The town's sister city was completely unlike itself. It was oversaturated with flashing lights, throwaway idols, and the smog. Most of Magnus’ customers came from the sister city, only the most superstitious and the most downtrodden, and the Actor was one of those customers.

     He knew that the man was an actor from the moment he walked through the door. Glazed eyes, empty chest- but the potted plant was new. Normally he had to cultivate entirely new plants for emptied urbanites. Magnus turned back to his current customer.

      "It won't need much care at first, but if you don't cultivate it early on then reviving it will take more time. Be sure to at least interact with it every week. Good luck!” Magnus watched as the woman flitted through the door, eager to try out her new Marriage. Magnus observed the Actor with a polite curiosity. “How may I help you?”

      The Actor seemed tired, to begin, with dark circles ringing his eyes. The exhaustion seeped into him like an old tea bag into a shallow cup and radiated from his body like a broken CRT. Magnus couldn't help but pity him.

     "Excuse me, I received this on my doorstep the other day- I'm not quite sure what it is.”

     "If I may?” Magnus checked the plant, looking at the basic components. The stems and leaves were in bad shape- shriveled up beyond belief. It took a little while before Magnus recognized the tell-tale heart shape. The central flower was small and underdeveloped- no wonder this man was so unhappy.

     "You said it just appeared on your doorstep?” Magnus asked.

      "Yes- I don't know what kind of plant it is, but I heard that this shop specializes in this sort of thing?”

     "We do. This happens more often than people think.”

     "So then what is it?”

     "It’s one of our specialty flowers, but it seems to have been neglected?” Magnus met the Actor’s eyes and gently touched the man’s arm. Friendly Banter would keep the plant alive for a little while, but it needed some Love to make a full recovery.

      "I wouldn't know. It just came to me like that.” The Actor seemed a bit startled from the touch, but returned his focus to the pot. The plant was little more than a central stem surrounded by a little bush of waxy, dried-up leaves. Magnus knew it would take a while before it would flower, but he had confidence in his abilities.

     "Come back tomorrow and I'll see what we can do.”

 

     "This is your Heart. And this is what one of these is supposed to look like.” Magnus showed the Actor his own heart- not the biggest or most open, but healthy and happy with itself. The central stem had a single white flower at the top that emitted a sweet scent from yellow stamen.

     "It truly is struggling, isn't it,” The Actor traced the edge of the pot with a small frown. How much of it was an act, Magnus wondered. If his heart was so withered then how much of the Actor's emotions were fake?

     "I'm afraid so. But it's not without hope- Love and Care will fix up anything.”

      "I already tried water and sunlight.”

      "This flower needs a little bit more than that.”

      "What else could it possibly need?” There it was. The Actor's anger, frustration- the plant wilted in response.

     "Everything needs Care at least. I'll give it some fertilizer and we'll see how it does.”

 

     Magnus had added some Self-Care to begin with. It was more difficult to produce, but this was a specialized fertilizer practically invented for situations like these. When the Actor returned a week later, he was already looking a bit better. The Actor still hadn’t earned his name; plenty of people used a name, but few had one. It wasn't truly theirs. But the Actor had showered at least and looked a little less gaunt in the cheeks, and though it didn't mean that everything was better Magnus knew that without basic nutrients, any other treatment wouldn't help the flower bloom.

     "It's doing a bit better,” the Actor said, studying the plant with something resembling curiosity. “What does it need?”

     "Interaction. I'll try a few things, but it's almost Valentine's Day. It's a busy season.” Magnus briefly wondered how many Rejections he'd need to make this year. Rejections always hurt, but without a clean cut the entire Heart could get infected.

     "Interaction? With other plants?”

“That too.”

     "So would you like me to come back after Valentine's Day?”

      "Unless you want to help.”

      "Help?” The Actor echoed quietly.

     "We're hiring.” Magnus had made that up on the spot, but it was his shop. No one could stop him.

     "I'm afraid I don't know much about botany.”

     "You can talk though, can't you? It's good for plants.”

     Magnus watched the Actor hesitate before agreeing. Good, he thought to himself.

 

     Hearts had to make Genuine Connection on their own. Magnus hadn't figured out how to synthesize it yet, but he could supplement the flower's production by giving it Friendship extract in liquid form. It wasn't exactly ethical to give it to the Actor's Heart like this, but Magnus did everything possible to ensure that the Actor's new job at the flower shop wouldn't affect the natural growth of his Heart. He gave it to the Heart when the Actor was at home, on the weekend, and only after the man had said that he had plans. Two drops to the base of the stem, that was more than enough. Magnus made sure to up the amount of Self-Care he gave the Heart on Sunday, and was happy to see the Actor smile when he came in Monday.

     "Did something good happen?”

     "No, nothing so dramatic. It's just a nice day out, though, wouldn't you agree?”

     Magnus raised an eyebrow at that. “I suppose it is.”

     He checked to see where the Heart was and- ah, that explained it. Direct sunlight. Well, that was a good sign for the Actor's health.

     Magnus listened to the Actor chatter a bit with the First Loves. It was almost funny how the Actor's cadence changed when he settled in to read the plants stories. The man's voice would lower and slow, as if he was speaking to a child. Sometimes even children's books would take an entire day for the Actor to read because of how intent he got at projecting the performance- voices for the characters, hand gestures that the plants would never detect, let alone enjoy- but it was nice to see a recovering apathetic find passion in _something_.

     Passion would undoubtedly help. Magnus checked the Heart once more for signs of weakening or malnutrition, but everything seemed to be in working order. The flower hadn't bloomed yet, but the leaves were looking glossier and green. Magnus traced a leaf with the light touch of a gloved hand as his expression turned pensive. No, you couldn't just go around recruiting friends for what essentially amounted to an acquaintance. That was just strange, not to mention borderline rude. But even so, the Actor would benefit so much from talking to someone with a whole heart- anyone that he could model himself off of. Already the Actor's heart was looking more like Magnus’ own, and they'd only been interacting for a few weeks. Or he was being stupid. That had to be it- a professional relationship where they were in close quarters? Of course the Actor's Heart would emulate the nearest healthy plant, especially if its owner had some sort of emotion directed towards the plant’s owner. No matter the appeal or dramatic flair of a whirlwind romance, this wasn't a romance novel and they weren't dashing heroes. Still, even if this was just a job in-between roles for the Actor and not a serious job for him, Magnus didn't mind. It was nice to just have company, and as he watched the Actor broadcast every emotion that came to him to his plants, Magnus couldn’t help feel that the Actor felt the same way.

     When the man came rushing into Magnus’ shop with an injured bird cradled in his palms, Magnus knew that the Actor- Roy- no longer needed him.

     "Forgive me, please, but I found this fellow outside and he seems to be hurt.” Roy's hazel eyes glittered with something resembling hope, and Magnus would admit to himself later in private that Roy had managed to find a weak spot.

    "Let's take a look then, shall we?” He let Roy put the bird on his table, but with just a glance Magnus already knew the problem. “The poor thing’s wing is broken. Here- hold it still, won't you?”

     Magnus wrapped up the wing with bandages, up and over the wing and down across the body to the little bird's feet. He remained focused on his work and most _certainly_ was not aware of how close Roy's face was to his own. Except Magnus knew himself too well for that sort of nonsense and quietly cursed his own translucence.

     "Heavens, everything is blooming now.” Oh no.

     "Oh? The flowers?”

     "Yes- just about all the flowers and even the bushes outside,” Roy said. Happiness colored his tone and spread to Magnus. Another bush just out of Roy's field of vision burst bright pink and blue flowers.

     "Hm. It is almost spring though- tis the season.”

      "Isn't that normally said for Christmas?”

     "Is it? I rarely get visitors.”

     "We gave each other Christmas presents three months ago.”

     "You are an exception to the rule, and therefore that's irrelevant to the argument,” Magnus said with a huff. Roy laughed at his false indignation and the façade fell apart. Matching smiles lit their faces as Magnus gently scooped up the little bluebird and put it in the nursery. The plants and natural environment would do it some good, and the old chap could heal without worry of cats or other predators. Magnus put out a little water bowl for the tiny bluebird and set to work containing his magic back to acceptable levels. As fun as it was to have all the flowers in full bloom at once, prolonged output with no focus would lay Magnus flat in less than an hour. And if Roy's flower was blooming completely independently of Magnus’ magic, well, then it was a good sign for the man's recovery.

     Yes. That was it, and that was all that the bloom could mean.

     Magnus continued lying badly to himself like that, pretending to ignore off-color comments until he was alone at night and curled up in his own bed. There, he would obsess and examine and overanalyze everything that they said to each other. It was natural for friends to want to talk to each other. And if you were both good conversationalists, then hours-long chats that lasted well into the night were normal. Exchanging interests and talking about those things was just a sign of Roy's improved health. Magnus didn't know when he'd ever need to know that much about stage lights and the merits of gel lights and comparisons gobos to shadows actually painted on the sets, but he'd enjoyed every second of Roy's explanation of the differences between the two. And if they were sitting awfully close during that talk, knees knocking against one another and hands brushing, then that was just because Roy's passion and love for his work was electrifying.

     In the height of Spring, Magnus knew he was kidding himself. Yes, he was afraid to ruin their friendship and yes, it would have been easier to just tell Roy that his Heart was in peak condition and that he could go now. That was obvious to the both of them, but Roy had stayed. He stayed, and for that reason Magnus grew determined to confess his feelings.

     The idea came to him as he was unwrapping the bluebird's wing. A bit cheesy, a bit corny, but Roy was an actor. He'd even started sending less time in the shop and more on his career once April hit. If there was one thing Magnus knew about theater people, it was that they loved the overly-dramatic and hopelessly romantic gestures. Magnus didn't want to draw too much attention to the idea beforehand. That would ruin the surprise, but Roy wasn't due back for a few days. Plenty of time for set-up.

 

     When Roy turned up for his shift, the shop was empty. That was rare- and even rarer was a lack of response when he called out for Magnus. He approached the counter only to look down and see a note secured by a glass prism for a paperweight.

Follow me. ->

     Odd, Roy thought to himself, but he would play along. He turned right and found another note pinned to the wall with a small doodle of the two of them taking care of the bluebird. Head toward the nursery. Each note held instructions on where to go, and each had a small gift. There was one on the floor, one on the counter, in the stove, above the sink, pasted against the mirror, hidden in a fern before. Roy was glad that Magnus’ second gift had been a little pouch, because having a bunch of heartfelt but odd knick knacks in his hands would be awkward. The last note nearly made him drop that tiny bag.

     Their Hearts, green and alive, were in the same planter. The note in their leaves held no words, just a little heart with a question mark.

     "Oh… Oh my…” He picked up the note with shaking hands.

      "Is that a yes?”

     Roy nearly gave himself whiplash from turning so fast. Magnus leaned against the doorframe in a way that reminded Roy of graduates fresh out of school trying their hardest to seem cool. It was such a ridiculous image that he couldn't help but laugh.

     Magnus seemed nearly offended until Roy wrapped his arms around the other and held him close.

     "Yes- of course it's a yes!”

     Their laughter echoed through Magnus’ shop and shook the petals of the Hearts. Had one tried to separate the two plants now, they would find that the roots were all tangled up in happy bundles. Both bloomed brightly with pure white petals bathing in sunlight.

     And this made them happy.


End file.
